260 



DISCOVERY 



a given vmlcr's grammas, the directions in which these 

 slope, his interruptions — that is, the number of times 



FlO. I.— (GRAPHOJIETKY.) 



he raises his pen from paper, etc. — and the various 

 shapes of his grammas. Let me here note .that this 

 new word gramma, used by Dr. Locard, means any 

 written character, figure, or sign, and is less apt to lead 

 to confusion than the word " letter" or " character." 

 Height is interpreted by measurements. A given 

 \vriter, according to the pen he is using, the space at 

 his disposal, and the nature of the text he is WTiting, 

 traces grammas which are sometimes small and some- 

 times large, but the relation between the height and 

 the breadth of each gramma remains constant. The 

 slope of his grammas is interpreted by angular values. 

 The frequency with which a writer lifts pen from paper 

 can be calculated and represented graphically bj' means 

 of curves. And finally, shapes can also be interpreted 

 statistically and translated into comparable curves. 

 The superposition or divergence of the curves thus fur- 

 nished by two writings makes striking comparisons. 



As an example of the first method Dr. Locard takes 

 the word retnerciement in an anonymous letter (text X) 

 the author of which has to be discovered. The same 

 word occurs in the texts to be compared with it, or in 

 those dictated to two persons, A and B, who are under 

 suspicion. After the various measurements have been 

 made, the chart Fig. i is the result. Clearly the 

 writer of the texts X and A are one and the same ; 

 B's \vriting is entirely different. Naturally, it is only 



J-lc. : — (GRAPHOMETRY.) 



acteristic, and one of the methods employed in 

 measuring the angles is shown by Fig. 2. 



The direction of the slope of ihe grammas — otherwise 

 known as parallelisme grammatiqiie — is well shown 

 graphically by the word meiirlre (Fig. 3), the up and 

 down strokes being prolonged until they intersect. 



Graphometry in such expert hands as those of Dr. 

 Locard and his assistants is of the greatest value in 

 the detection of the forger or malefactor. Its appli- 

 cation has already on numerous occasions met with 

 success, and notably in the case of a post-scriptum to a 

 letter written by a dying soldier at the front — a post- 

 scriptum which, properly legalised, left the whole 

 of his possessions to the receiver of the letter. It was 

 shown by means of the methods outlined above that 

 the same person could not possibly have written both 

 letter and post-scriptum, and Dr. Locard's demon- 



after a number of words have been analysed in this 

 way that a definite conclusion is arrived at. 



Variations in the curves of grammas are very char- 



Fic. 3.— CCRAPHOJCETRY.) 



stration w'as so convincing that the forger at last 

 confessed. 



BIBLIOGR.\PHY 

 L' I dcntification des Criminels par I'examen des orifices sudori- 



pares, par Dr. Edmond Locard. Docteur en medecine, 



licencie en droit, Directeur du Laboratoire de Police de 



Lyons. (Paris: A. Poinat, 121 Boulevard St-Michel, 



1912.) 

 La Poroscopie, proUdi nouveau d'idenlificalion des criminels 



par les traces des orifices sudoripores, par Dr. Locard. 



(Lyons: A. Rev, 191 3.) 

 L'Enqtille criminelle et les Mclhodes scientifiques, par Dr. Locard. 



(Paris : Ernest Flammarion, 26 me Racine, 1920.) 

 La Preuve judiciaire par les empreinles digHales, par Dr. Locard. 



(Lyons: A. Rey, 1914.) 

 Instructions pour les recherches techniques dans les constats 



criminels, par Gabriel Petisni et Dr. Locard. (Lyons, 



1919.) 



